Timeline of insurance policy cancellation subject of testimony in county case

Joe Durkin didn’t know when the insurance policy that covered the Toyota Pavilion at Montage was going to be canceled.

He also denied giving the order to cancel the policy 1½ months before the roof collapsed under heavy snow in February 2007. Mr. Durkin testified Wednesday that he didn’t find out the cancellation had taken place until two weeks later.

“It was a big surprise to me,” he said.

Mr. Durkin is one of the defendants named in a $1.6 million lawsuit Lackawanna County filed in 2008 against its insurer, the Housing and Redevelopment Insurance Exchange. Dominic Verrastro, who was the county’s insurance coordinator at the time, canceled the policy, effective Dec. 1, 2006. He has said he did so under Mr. Durkin’s direction. Judge Carmen Minora is hearing the non-jury trial this week and will determine who ordered the cancellation and if they were authorized to do so. If he finds it was, a separate trial will be held in October to determine the amount of money the county is owed.

Mr. Durkin, who managed the county’s insurance for the pavilion, testified that he had little to do with the policy in question, but said it wasn’t uncommon for him to receive insurance paperwork.

“I was wondering why I didn’t get any notification that it was canceled,” he testified.

He explained that he assumed the policy would be canceled after the facility was sold to Snö Mountain, but said he was unaware of the time frame. He said he even made inquiries, looking into the possibility of selling insurance to the new owners, but had few details about the pending sale.

“Did I think it was going to be canceled? Yes,” Mr. Durkin said. “Did I know when? No.”

He didn’t recall having any specific conversations about the cancellation with county officials, but said if he had, Mr. Verrastro would have been his contact.

Also Wednesday, Gail Hughes, who works in accounts payable at HARIE, testified that she worked in data entry in 2007, when the cancellation request was submitted.

She said she entered the information into the company’s claims computer system on Jan. 15, 2007, with an effective date of Dec. 1, 2006. The cancelation direction came from the underwriting department at the company.

When questioned about the accuracy of the dates, Ms. Hughes explained that she was not aware of a way to alter the date of entry or back date information. She had never tried to change the date of an entry and said she had never known another employee to try to do so.

Mr. Verrastro is expected to testify when the trial resumes today before Judge Minora.

Contact the writer:

rbrown@timesshamrock.com, @rbrownTT on Twitter

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